Ark. House approves changes to local elections

The House passed the measure 68-22, a day after the bill failed in the chamber over some lawmakers' concerns that it placed too many restrictions on school elections.

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By MICHAEL STRATFORD, Associated Press

Stuttgart Daily Leader - Stuttgart, AR

By MICHAEL STRATFORD, Associated Press

Posted Mar. 13, 2013 at 10:49 AM
Updated Mar 13, 2013 at 10:51 AM

By MICHAEL STRATFORD, Associated Press

Posted Mar. 13, 2013 at 10:49 AM
Updated Mar 13, 2013 at 10:51 AM

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

The Arkansas House on Tuesday approved a plan to restrict when cities and counties can hold special elections, after the bill's sponsor said he would amend it to provide flexibility for school-related elections.

The House passed the measure 68-22, a day after the bill failed in the chamber over some lawmakers' concerns that it placed too many restrictions on school elections.

The proposal would require municipalities to hold special elections at the same time as state primary or general elections. During non-election years, cities and counties would have to hold elections on the Tuesday after the first Monday in either May or November. The limitations would not apply to special elections needed to fill a vacancy or runoff elections, and the bill would keep annual school elections on the third Tuesday in September.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Allen Kerr, R-Little Rock, said Tuesday he planned to amend the measure to allow school funding questions be posed to voters in September as well as the May and November dates.

Under current law, school boards and municipalities have broad discretion on when to hold special elections.

But Kerr and proponents of the measure said the changes are needed to rein in municipalities and school boards that have sought to manipulate the timing of local elections to raise taxes or pass other measures when there is low voter turnout.

"They've abused those privileges over the years — having elections on holidays, days after holidays, trying to time them in such a way to control the outcome of the election," Kerr said on the House floor. "That's completely un-American and just wrong."

Mark Hayes, general counsel for the Arkansas Municipal League, which opposes the measure, said there was no evidence that cities and counties were engaging in that practice.

"To somehow say the electorate has been duped is completely false," he said. "I think that it's democracy in action, and we shouldn't limit those opportunities."

He said that while the Municipal League shares the goal of increasing voter turnout, restricting ballot measures and elections would complicate a system that already works.

"It is unnecessarily restrictive, and what I fear is that it will clog the voting system," he said. "In a general election you already have a pretty significant ballot and adding in all of those things will make it enormous. It's a practical problem."